In Spring 2025, I am teaching Introduction to Film (FILM 2100), African American Cinema (FILM 3350),
and Film Analysis & Criticism (FILM 4310).
In Summer 2025, I am teaching Introduction to Film (FILM 2100).
In Fall 2025, I am teaching Introduction to Film (FILM 2100) and
Deconstructing Disney (FILM 3360).
In Spring 2026, I am teaching Introduction to Film (FILM 2100), Deconstructing Pixar (FILM 4800),
and Film Analysis & Criticism (FILM 4310).
A humanities-based approach to cinema as an art form, this course introduces the basic elements of motion-picture form: camerawork, editing, narrative, sound, and mise-en-scene. The course also locates contemporary filmmaking within historical and international contexts.
This course introduces students to the evolution of motion pictures as an art form from the silent era to the present. It critically surveys historically important cinematic traditions across narrative, documentary, and/or experimental forms.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C
This course closely studies the development of a specific national or regional cinema in terms of its aesthetic, theoretical, and socio-political dimensions. Topics range from the study of a historical period (the Russian silent era, for example), to an in-depth analysis of a single film movement (The French New Wave), to the conceptualization of a specific national or regional cinema (e.g., Japanese, Indian, French, Mexican, Canadian, African, New Zealand, etc.).
Prerequisites: ENGL 1102 with a minimum grade of C and FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C
This course studies the rich and diverse history of African American Cinema from the silent era to the present day. The course’s primary texts of study are Independent films directed by African American filmmakers, occasionally considered in dialog with selected Hollywood representations of African Americans. The course particularly emphasizes Black Film Aesthetics as a politics of representation and counter-representation—the ways in which film is used as a medium of protest, resistance, and cultural affirmation.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C
This course studies how Disney films reflect and skew the traditional fairy tales on which they are based, in order to further discern how Disney constructs its ideologies and promotes particular identities. Disney created these films within particular historical and cultural contexts; as such, the course considers how their creative circumstances from the 1930s right up to the present day yielded their particular intersections of race, gender, class, sexuality, ability, capitalism, and nation. Additionally, the course considers how audiences can interpret these popular cultural texts in ways not necessarily designed or even forethought by Disney.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C
This course studies how Pixar's inventiveness with digital animation and narrative storytelling revolutionized American cinema after the 1990s. Pixar created its films within particular historical and cultural contexts; as such, the course studies how their creative circumstances yielded their particular intersections of these very American ideologies of nostalgia, memory, capitalism, nation, and identity (including gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability). But the course also considers how audiences can interpret these popular culture texts in ways not necessarily designed or even forethought by Pixar.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C
This revolving topics course analyzes and discusses historically important films by great international directors. It considers the role of the director in the creation of excellent films: personal “auteurist” styles, cinematic strategies, and typical themes.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C and FILM 2700 with a minimum grade of C
This course continues the humanities-based approach to cinema begun in Introduction to Film. Students master the analysis of motion-picture form, including camerawork, editing, narrative, sound, and mise-en-scene. The course also considers multiple approaches to film theory and criticism within historical and international contexts.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C and FILM 2700 with a minimum grade of C
This course explores the role of women in cinema as on-screen representation, as spectators, and as filmmakers. We will study selected films and readings particularly in light of women's gender, class, race, and sexuality.
Prerequisites: FILM 2100 with a minimum grade of C